


At Quite a Risk

by lar_laughs



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: F/F, LiveJournal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-08-21
Updated: 2009-08-21
Packaged: 2017-10-08 08:42:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/74749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lar_laughs/pseuds/lar_laughs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Morag can't seem to work up the nerve to talk to the girl she's had her eye on for the last year.  Her best friend takes matters into her own hands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At Quite a Risk

After having been led on a wild goose chase throughout the school, Morag was breathing heavily. The very fact that she'd exerted herself for what appeared to be no reason made her want to act very unpleasantly toward the Giggle Girls. It was only Padma's own harsh frown that kept her from expressing her own unhappiness.

"I don't get it. There's no one here," the Ravenclaw twin growled. "What was the big surprise you wanted us to see?"

"Wait," Lavender giggled. "Just wait."

"How did we let them talk us into this?" Morag pretended to wipe at a spot of dirt on her spotless cardigan as she whispered conspiratorially to her friend. "They giggle entirely too much for my comfort."

"We could just leave," Padma whispered back. "No one's keeping-"

A door was flung open at the other end of the hallway, causing Morag to jump. Before she could react, the first footfall echoed off the stone walls. Dirty, sweating and very subdued, the Hufflepuff Quidditch team came walking toward them. It had never once occurred to Morag to keep track of where Lavender and Pavarti were taking them. If her quick calculations were correct, the entrance to the Hufflepuff den was a quick right and a left at the end of the hall. This was the closest entrance from the Quidditch pitch. She'd never once given any thought to where they might enter the building but she was glad that someone had.

Padma was watching her with a smirk. "I guess the Giggle Girls do have their uses. Here's your chance. Should we leave you alone?"

"Don't you dare." She gripped her friend's arm, using it more as an anchor to keep her from running away. "We'll leave as we came in. Together or not at all."

"Well, that's to be seen. I refuse to be a third wheel because you're too scared to say hello without being forced into it. I doubt you want Lavender around for this." There was a whispered conversation that Morag didn't catch a word of as she strained all her senses on the group coming toward her.

They were closer now, only a few feet away. Morag could feel her heart beating overtime. To keep from passing out, she began silently reciting the names the runes, putting them in order of their Latin spelling. Her field of vision narrowed so that she was only able to see four or five stones on the floor at her feet.

"Hi, Morag."

Her panic cleared as she heard her name in the crystal clear tones of the only Hufflepuff Beater she knew the name of. She was able to lift her head but all other movement seemed impossible.

"Hi, Megan," she replied back. Or it might have been just nonsense syllables. It was hard to tell for sure. She smiled – or tried to even though her lips felt numb. "Did you have a good practice?"

The other bedraggled members of the team filtered past, none of them caring that one of their rank had stopped to talk, although Morag noticed that Justin winked at Padma as he filed past. Megan waited for them all to walk on by before she shrugged. "It was okay. Sure would be nice if it would stop raining, though. I'm feeling waterlogged lately."

"You look great. I mean-" She tried not to blush as her brain frantically tried to catch up with her mouth. "Well, I mean, considering you've been on your broom for the last three hours in the rain and quite a considerable wind, you look… great."

Megan grinned, her nose scrunching up just the slightest. "Thanks. You look great, too. That's a great colour on you."

"Thanks," Morag echoed, fingering edges of the cardigan once again. "It's Padma's. She says it's goldenrod."

"Looks yellow."

"That's what I said."

There was a strained silence as they both just stared at each other, stupid smiles mirrored on each face. Morag couldn't think of anything to say that wasn't a repetition of what she'd already said. Those were the only approved comments she could think to make that wouldn't sound stupid or wildly inappropriate.

Padma, as always, saved the day. As she pulled her arm from Morag's death grip, she began a one-sided conversation. "Megan probably has to get back to her room. Dinner is in an hour and she looks like she might need to get cleaned up. Why don't we let her go, we may miss dinner, too. " When no one else said anything to fill her pause, she kept talking. "Morag needs some help with Herbology assignment. Maybe you could help her, Megan?"

Megan scrunched her nose again. "Herbology isn't really my thing. I'm a Hufflepuff. Not a gardener."

"That's too bad." Padma began pushing a silent Morag down the hall. "The greenhouses are a nice place to meet people. They're usually locked at night but Morag here, smart girl that she is, knows how to get through the wards. I guess she'll just have to try her best alone. After dinner is usually when she goes down to work through the assignments. By herself. With no one else around."

They were nearly at the end of the hall, both Megan and Morag still locked in a silent stare. While she'd done her share of staring at the Hufflepuff, she'd never been quite this close before. A smothered giggle from around the corner reminded her that they had spectators. She broke her eyes away to look over her shoulder but both Lavender and Parvati were well hidden. In this instance, she was willing to cut them some slack because of their good deed.

Megan hefted her broom back up to her shoulder just as Morage looked back aroun. "Maybe I'll stop by. We could muddle through it together."

The grin nearly split her face from side to side at the thought that the girl might show up. She knew for a fact that she didn't need help with Herbology but she wasn't going to let anything stop her from breaking into one of the greenhouses tonight. A shiver ran through her as she saw an answering grin on Megan's face.

"Bye, Megan."

"Bye, Morag."

With a very undignified squeel, Morag jumped around and began running for anywhere that wasn't here. The joy inside her warred with the fear and she needed to do something to get this out of her system. When she stopped, Padma was panting along behind her.

"I did it. I talked to her."

"Sort of. You've still got to work on that part. But practice makes perfect."

Morag hugged herself, biting her bottom lip with her teeth as she contemplated just what tonight might be like if she let go of some of her fear. "And I want to have a lot of practice."


End file.
